errornoun [ C or U ]
uk/ˈer.ər/us/ˈer.ɚ/B2 a mistake:
He admitted that he'd made an error.
The letter contains a number of typing errors.
Human error has been blamed for the air crash.
With something as delicate as brain surgery, there is little margin for error (= you must not make mistakes).
error of judgment
a wrong decision:
Not telling the staff before they read the news in the papers was an error of judgment.
see the error of your ways
to understand that you were wrong to behave in a particular way and start to behave differently
More examples
- Hospital authorities admitted that a tragic error had taken place.
- The reason for the disaster was engine failure, not human error.
- The error occurred when someone left out the decimal point.
- Your essay is full of spelling errors.
- There are some serious errors and omissions in the book.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Faults and mistakes
- a blot on sb's character idiom
- aberration
- Achilles heel
- adrift
- black mark
- chink
- clinker
- creep in/creep into sth
- errata
- erratum
- failing
- false alarm
- false move
- faux pas
- lapse
- loophole
- misprint
- misspell
- mistake
- mistaken
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Changing your mind